Our Story

How it all began....(sorry it's so long)

STEPHANIE'S SIDE:

 Our story has been filled with countless adventures. It all seemed to click extremely fast. I suppose it all started at Kat's birthday when I first met Keith. I was taken aback by how sweet and gentle of a person he was. I was extremely fond of him, but figured I probably wouldn't see him again for a while. 

A couple of months later I ran into him again. A few of us had gone out one night. I remember being around him, and thinking that he was extremely witty. I appreciated his fun sense of humor. At the end of the night we watched a movie. We stayed up until four in the morning just talking. We talked about various things. We talked about graduating, and grad school, and where we wanted to be post Westmont. The conversations just felt very natural and extremely refreshing. The next day I couldn't help but to wonder if our conversations were more than just friendly chit chatting. The following day Keith showed up at my choir concert.

 I was so surprised. He then told me that he wanted to know if I'd go to formal with him. I was so excited! I said yes and gave him a big hug! The dance was so much fun. We danced all night. Randomly we would step out of the dance room and take breaks. We would just sit and talk. I felt extremely comfortable with Keith, and enjoyed all of our conversations. 

After the dance He asked me if I wanted to go out again. "YES PLEASE!" I responded. We hung out a few times before then. It was clear that we were both enjoying each other's company.

Our first date was filled with so many deep conversations. Later I told Keith that I wanted to continue to get to know each other, and continue to pray over the future of our friendship. The next day we studied together. After a couple hours of successful and intense studying, we got side tracked. We ended up looking at pictures together, listening to our favorite songs together, and simply getting to know each other better. It was that night that I realized what an amazing man Keith was. I loved his gentle spirit, his eagerness to listen, his love for learning, his disciplined character, and his witty child like joy. I knew then that I wanted to keep Keith in my life for as long as God permitted me to have him there. 

 At the end of that night we decided that we would continue to talk over winter break. Throughout winter break we continued to get to know each other. We continued to pray over the future of our relationship. After many long conversations, and a whole month of praying, we returned to Santa Barbara ready to start our relationship. Since then we have had so many epic adventures. .

Keith's side

Kaleb and I decided to go with Kat and Jameisha to the Christmas concert, in which Stephanie was singing, both in College Choir and Chamber Singers. I admired her from the audience during the performance, and then a group of us went out to dance at the Sandbar, Stephanie included. After a while, the two of us decided to take a dance break, so we walked outside together and sat down and began joking lightly. I don't think we really left each other's side after that until about 4:00 am. As a group we went back to the house and put in a movie, and by that time it was about 2:00 am. Soon everyone else was asleep, but Steph and I had challenged each other to stay up to finish the movie. Except we weren't really watching. We were talking about our lives and our futures, and what we hoped to be and accomplish. We definitely connected in a special way during our conversation, and the next morning I was excited to recall what had happened the night before. 

That day I started getting teasing text messages from Kat and Missy, who claimed to have noticed something special between us that night as well. When I met up with them to talk, I told them that I was interested in Steph and that I wanted to ask her to formal. From that point, Kat was on a mission. She helped me figure out how I was going to ask and when I would do it, and together we came up with a plan. The day after that, Sunday, Stephanie had her last performance for the Christmas concert, and after the show Missy brought her over to Drew's car, where she would get a ride. I was waiting at the car with Sour Patch Watermelons, and I asked her if she would go with me to formal. Instead of an answer, I got a big hug, which I took to be a yes.

 We saw each other and spoke a little the week before the dance, and by the time it came, I had decided that I wanted to drive separately from the group, just the two of us. I think I wanted to keep her mostly to myself. She looked absolutely gorgeous when I went to pick her up, and the two of us had an amazing time together at dinner and at the dance, without doubt the best school dance I'd been to.

 Throughout the evening, I was trying to decide how soon I could ask her out on a date, and soon I convinced myself it would be appropriate to do it that night. When I did, she said, "Yes, please!", which only made me more excited about spending more time with her.
The next day, she came over to the house again for a Chili dinner.

 A few days and finals later, we went on a date to Pascucci's for dinner.  We studied together the next evening. At least we started out studying, and we did well for a few hours, despite making brownies and having dinner together. After that, though, we put the books away and started talking, sitting close on the couch, looking through pictures and listening to music. Again, as we sat and talked we connected very deeply.
 

Throughout Christmas break, we talked for several hours, almost every day. We laughed and joked, but also talked about what we wanted in a relationship and how we hoped things would go. The day she moved back to Santa Barbara, I met her and helped her move in. That night we watched a movie together, and afterward decided that we wanted to consider ourselves official. 

Since then, we've had many adventures together. We've gone to Disneyland, hiked to a waterfall, got hooked on Lost, spent a day in Solvang, flown kites, and spent countless hours enjoying each other's company. We've gotten to know each other's families and spent time in each other's homes. Around the end of March, we confessed the we love each other, and we continued to see how serious we were becoming about each other and hoped that we'd be able to keep each other. 

 

ENGAGEMENT

STEPHANIE'S-

In March, Keith came out to visit for Spring Break. I decided to enjoy every moment I had with him and not focus on whether he was going to propose or how he would do it.

One day I got home from work and Keith suggested we go to Starbucks to read. I was pretty obsessed with The Hunger Games at the time. I thought it was a good idea. I didn't find it odd, until he suggested I dress warm. Once again I tried not to think about it. But I will confess I was searching his pockets for small little box ;) When we got to Starbucks all the tables were TAKEN! People were doing homework and studying. I was pretty upset. I just wanted to read...but there had been a nerd invasion at Starbucks. Keith ordered our drinks and suggested we do something else. He ordered my drink before I told him what I wanted. When I asked him how he knew what I wanted he simply said it was the drink I ordered on our first date.

He drove and we ended up at the beach. We had gone to the beach quite a few times just to watch the sunset. I had so many thoughts and emotions at this point. I kept telling myself to keep it cool! What if he wasn't going to propose...then I'll be crying for nothing and Keith would feel horrible. NO TEARS ALLOWED...yet. Finally as we were getting ready to go Keith, said he wanted to show me something. My first thought was ...A RING!! But it wasn't :)

In February I had made Keith a box for Valentines Day. I asked him to keep cards, tickets and treasured memories he wanted to keep from our relationship. Over the past year he had added cards that captured our epic adventures. He asked me if we could add something new to the box. He pulled out white heart cut outs, on it were different memories we had shared together since the last time we had "updated" our box. On the hearts he had captions "Going to the Christmas Pacific Symphony Concert" "Going to Chicago and visiting Ji, Jamie, and Will." I began to cry. I tried SO hard not to...but I couldn't help it.

Finally, he pulled out the last card and said, "Here is one more memory I want to add to our box 'proposing on the beach'". And I lost it. I cried, as he got on one knee. I put my arms around him in tears so happy. It took me a while before I could stop crying, and once I did I finally got to see the ring...and of course...I started to cry again.

Keith explained that the diamond in the center was part of a setting on Keith's Great Grandmother's engagement ring back in the 1920's. For weeks to follow, I would stare down at my hand and it all felt so surreal. Afterward we went to celebrate at Downtown Disney, with wine and fireworks. When we got home, my parents had been waiting for us. Keith had called my Dad the week before he flew out and asked him for permission to marry me. It was an epic night and nothing less that a great beginning to the more epic adventures to come. -sigh-

Keith's:

I spent the week I had off for spring break with Stephanie in Anaheim, and had decided long in advance that that would be the week I would propose. I also knew she would be expecting it that week, so the difficult thing was going to be finding a way to take her by surprise. To this end, I thought the earlier the better, since the later I waited the more she would know it was coming, and so since I was arriving on a Friday, I decided to go with Monday evening, after she got off work. 

It took me a while to come up with a plan I felt good about, but once I had I gathered everything I’d need, and before leaving Cleveland for the week, checked many many times to make sure I wasn’t leaving the ring behind in my apartment. So Monday evening came, and I found myself to be slightly more nervous than I expected. My first goal was to get her out of the house without her suspecting my intentions, so I suggested that we go read together at Starbucks. She agreed, but I think I may have given myself away when I told her to dress warm (dress warm, for Starbucks?). So to Starbucks we went, and on arriving realized that all the seats were taken, but I ordered our drinks to go and told her to trust me and not to worry. By this time I knew my popping the question was on her mind; she even told me later that she’d checked underneath the cup for a ring!

 As we drove from there, she tried to guess where we were going, but I was determined to give nothing else away. Soon we arrived at the beach. I brought out a blanket, and we went out, sat down, and listened to the waves. After a few moments, I brought out some cards she had given me on our first Valentine’s Day together. They were small notes with moments in our relationship that had been significant to her. I read through them again, talking through why each was meaningful to me as well. Then I took out some that I had made, reading through more memories that I knew were important to both of us. 

I reached the last one and read it to her: getting engaged on the beach. I then stood her up, got down on a knee and lifted the ring up to her, asking if she’d be my wife. She gave me a long hug. We spent a minute more there together and then some time celebrating and letting it sink in at a restaurant in Downtown Disney before returning home to begin telling our families.